Teacher Appreciation Week: NFL Edition

A logical follow-up post would be one that extended this chain. A less logical one would jump ahead about 2300 years and trace the lineage of famous NFL teachers. Since I just read an excellent piece by Stephen Edelson on the latter, let's turn down that road.

You can trace many of today's successful teachers back to Cleveland Browns legend Paul Brown. After joining the NFL in 1950, Cleveland appeared in six straight NFL title games, winning three. The father of modern football was also a stubborn S.O.B. After being criticized for passing too much in a win against the Philadelphia Eagles, Brown refused to throw the ball once in their next meeting (another win), the only time that's ever happened since the advent of the forward pass. Brown went on to coach the expansion Cincinnati Bengals, where he begat Bill Walsh.

Bill Walsh spent seven seasons under Brown, and would eventually take over the lowly San Francisco 49ers. With Joe Montana, Walsh would win three Super Bowls, including two over his former team in Cincy. He retired after the 1988-89 season. Here's where the coaching tree branches out.

Walsh's successor in San Francisco, his defensive coordinator George Seifert, won the Super Bowl his first season. Mike Holmgren, the quarterbacks coach under Walsh and offensive coordinator under Seifert, went to two Super Bowls as coach of the Green Bay packers (winning one), and brought the Seattle Seahawks to Super Bowl XL last year. Seifert also begat Mike Shanahan, who won two titles with Denver, and Pete Carroll, who didn't find success with the Jets or Patriots, but has dominated college football, winning two national championships at USC.

Back to Holmgren -- it seems like his entire Packers staff went on to coach their own teams. His branch is a big one: Andy Reid, Jon Gruden, Ray Rhodes, Marty Mornhinweg, Mike Sherman, Steve Mariucci, and Dick Jauron.

Fans of Broadway hit Hamilton will soon be able to dine like the Founding Fathers: As Eater reports, a new Alexander Hamilton-inspired cookbook is slated for release in fall 2017.

Amazon

Called The Hamilton Cookbook: Cooking, Eating, and Entertaining in Hamilton’s World, the recipe collection by author Laura Kumin “takes you into Hamilton’s home and to his table, with historical information, recipes, and tips on how you can prepare food and serve the food that our founding fathers enjoyed in their day,” according to the Amazon description. It also recounts Hamilton’s favorite dishes, how he enjoyed them, and which ingredients were used.

Recipes included are cauliflower florets two ways, fried sausages and apples, gingerbread cake, and apple pie. (Cue the "young, scrappy, and hungry" references.) The cookbook’s official release is on November 21—but until then, you can stave off your appetite for all things Hamilton-related by downloading the musical’s new app.